A Mysterious Illness
by namelessfreak
Summary: For several days, Ferb suffers from excruciating abdominal pain and vomiting.  When doctors are not able to figure out why, Phineas and his friends intervene.


Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, and I have a sleepover, and right now, we are watching a science fiction movie, eating snacks. We are enjoying ourselves on the couch, when out of the blue, I see a worrying sight next to me. Instead of enjoying the snacks and movie, Ferb has his hands pressed to his stomach, and runs off to the bathroom, looking a little green.

"Looks like you got to go easy on the wings, there, Ferb" said Phineas.

We assume Ferb simply overdid it with the hot wings, but when the movie is almost over, Ferb runs off to the bathroom three more times with that same nauseous look. He returns to the couch and lies down, doubled up in pain.

"Ferb, you don't look so well." said Phineas in concern, "Hold on. I'll go call Mom."

Borrowing Candace's cell phone, Phineas calls his mom, who is out with Isabella's mom. Candace comes to the living room and notices Ferb curled up on the couch. Although I don't show it much, I usually dread it when Candace comes over to us, as she is almost, if not always, intent on ruining our fun, but this time, she doesn't seem to be interesting in busting Phineas and Ferb at all.

"What's the matter with Ferb?" she asked.

"I don't know." replied Isabella, "I think he's got a really bad stomachache."

"Hello? Mom, Ferb doesn't look very well." said Phineas, on the phone, "He's doubled up in pain, and I think he threw up a few times. Sure. Okay."

When he gets off the phone, Phineas says, "Mom's coming home in a minute." We sit by him with worried looks on our faces, and soon, Phineas and Ferb's mom arrives.

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, going over to Ferb and taking his temperature.

"Well, Ferb, you don't have fever, but I suggest you get plenty of rest. I'll be back in a hour." she said.

Phineas and Ferb's mom then goes back out, and Candace leaves the four of us by ourselves, as she has nothing to bust Phineas and Ferb for. We sit and watch over Ferb all day, hoping he'd get better tomorrow, but for some reason, he doesn't. We are concerned, as throwing up that often can't be good for the body. Again, Phineas calls his mom.

"Mom? Ferb doesn't seem to be feeling any better, and he's still throwing up." he said.

Phineas and Ferb's mom returns from grocery shopping and rushes over to find a very sick Ferb.

"How long has he been sick like this?" she exclaimed.

"For two days." replied Isabella.

"And he can't seem to keep anything down." I said.

With that, we get into the car and rush Ferb to the hospital.

"If you think you're going to throw up again, Ferb, just use this." Phineas told Ferb, placing a bowl in front of him.

Isabella puts her arms around Phineas, looking at Ferb with teary eyes.

I hold him in my arms, trying to comfort him, since I not only like him as a friend, I also love him. We finally reach the hospital, hoping the doctor can figure out what's wrong with Ferb. Phineas and Ferb's mom explains to the doctor about Ferb's bellyaches and throwing up, and apparently, he already knows why Ferb is so sick.

"I believe he may just have a very bad case of food poisoning." the doctor said.

"Did he ingest any undercooked meat or poultry?" he asked.

"Well, he did have some hot wings." replied Phineas, "But I think they were cooked."

"Well, make sure all meat is properly cooked this time. Meat that looks ready can still be very undercooked." the doctor said, "He should get better in a few days."

With that said, we follow the doctor's orders, hoping it would work and that Ferb would get better, but for some reason, Ferb is still very sick. In fact, he is even worse than before. We rush Ferb back to the hospital, and the doctor refers him to various other doctors called specialists, who focus on diseases of specific organ systems. These specialists perform various tests on Ferb, but find nothing weird from the results. They simply give him various pain medications and anti-vomiting medicine. Ferb takes them as he is instructed to do, but the medications work only temporarily. Ferb goes to the hospital so many times that the doctors begin to think he is actually making himself sick on purpose just to get attention. We, especially Phineas and I, are furious to hear this. Ferb is so miserable that he probably just wants someone to put him out of his misery, but Phineas, Isabella, and I especially, are not about to give up on Ferb.

"I know what we must do today!" exclaimed Phineas.

Phineas then puts on a lab coat and the headband I've seen doctors wear, and Isabella and I put on nurses' hats and white aprons.

"Jolie, watch over and put him on IV fluids." ordered Phineas, "That way, he will still be nourished. Isabella and I will do some research."

Following Phineas's orders, I insert a tube at the end of a sack of fluids into Ferb's arm. I sit by his side, rubbing my hand on him, as the tube delivers nutrients and fluids into his body.

"Hang on, there, Ferb. You're going to be all right. I guarantee you will." I reassured, squeezing his hand.

Several hours later, Phineas and Isabella come back from researching.

"Phineas, I believe I found a condition that matches up with Ferb's symptoms." said Isabella who is holding a piece of paper.

"Let me see that." said Phineas, taking the paper and proceeding to read it.

"Isabella, you may be onto something, here!" exclaimed Phineas, "Quick, get me the x-ray glasses!"

"Sure, Phineas." said Isabella.

When she returns with the x-ray glasses, Phineas puts them on to see what's going on inside Ferb's body. He is completely shocked at what he finds.

"Ferb, I think I know why you're sick." said Phineas.

"It seems the Sphincter of Oddi, the sphincter muscle that controls the flow of digestive juices into the duodenum, is not functioning properly in your body. You have Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. It's relatively rare, so that's probably one of the reasons the doctors couldn't pick up on it. The good news, though, is that it can be cured immediately." he explained.

With that said, Phineas prepares to do a procedure called a sphincterotomy, which I quickly find out is a type of surgery. Isabella puts Ferb under what is called anesthesia, in which a patient is temporarily put to sleep during a procedure to prevent him/her from feeling pain, on Ferb. Phineas puts a thin tube-like object into Ferb's mouth, and with the help of the x-ray glasses, makes a cut on Ferb's Sphincter of Oddi. He takes the tube-like object out of Ferb's body, and Phineas and Isabella leave Ferb to sleep there on the couch for the rest of the night, while I stay by his side to keep him company. The next morning, Phineas and Isabella come downstairs and I wake up to check on Ferb, who starts to wake up himself.

"Good morning, Ferb." I said to him, "How do you feel?"

"Actually, I feel much better." he replied, "And for once, I don't feel nauseous at all! Phineas, Isabella, and Jolie, I cannot thank you all enough for helping me, even after the doctors thought there was nothing wrong with me."

The four of us all have a group hug, happy that Ferb is, at last, cured. Perry suddenly shows up, and Phineas says, "Oh there you are, Perry."


End file.
